LADOT Rolls Out New DASH Bus

Passengers aboard a Los Angeles public transportation service might have noticed a sleeker bus rolling down City streets.

The Los Angeles Deparment of Transportation (LADOT) Transit Services recently rolled out a brand new and cleaner burning fleet of DASH buses.

“There are a number of special features,” says Jim Lefton, executive officer of LADOT Transit Services. “This is the first CNG bus — the others were propane powered.”

CNG — or compressed natural gas — is an environmentally green alternative to gasoline or diesel. LADOT purchased 36 buses for its new green fleet — 14 of them are 35′ and the other 22 are 30′ in length.

The buses are equipped with the latest technology – each one has six cameras for increased passenger safety, and they will soon have devices that can read Metro’s Transit Access Pass (TAP) smart cards. This will let customers conveniently load cash value on a TAP card and ride DASH without needing exact change.

The fleet cost $16.9 million. The department secured $10.8 million in federal grant funds for the vehicle purchase (approximately 70% of total purchase amount).

According to LADOT, the system records 7 million passenger trips per year. Bus fare is 50 cents.

Click here for a list of routes, along with the travel time for each one. Click here for information on how to obtain a TAP card.

Councilmember Bill Rosendahl is Chair of the Transportation Committee.